The Portfolio Problem
Across the groups and portfolios we have assessed there is often a high degree of variance between hotels, even under one brand and one corporate policy. A guest who trusts the flag on the strength of one good stay can be let down by the next, and they blame the brand. Our paper Dog Friendly Performance Across Luxury Hotel Portfolios sets out what we found.
The Floor Is A Decision
Kimpton runs one brand level policy: no fee, no weight limit, a bed and bowls in every room. Hilton has written a bed and bowls into the brand standard of more than 4,600 hotels across North America. Both prove the same thing: a consistent welcome is not a structural impossibility, it is a decision taken at brand level.
What A Group Programme Delivers
- A brand standard for the guest with a dog, written against the Roch Dog Friendly Standard
- A multi-property rollout plan, sequenced by revenue and by grade
- A central training curriculum, delivered by Kali in every major language
- Scorecards and multi-property benchmarking, with each hotel's live grade and intelligence on the groups you compete with
- A trainer-of-trainer kit, so the capability lives inside the group
- Continuous assessment and annual reassessment, so the standard holds
- Typical engagement: 6 to 18 months
Who Does The Work, And How It Is Measured
We assess every hotel and write the brand standard with your brand team. Kali trains each hotel's team, your hotels implement, and the trainer-of-trainer kit keeps the capability inside the group. The measure is the scorecard: each hotel's live grade, re-assessed continuously, so the portfolio picture is measured rather than reported.
Kali Across The Estate
When the programme is in place, Kali, our AI canine concierge, can be trained on each property and serve its guests in every major language: what the dog may do, where the nearest walk is, how to reach an emergency vet at two in the morning. The brand's promise is then answered the same way at every hotel, on every shift, in every language.
Questions
Asked And Answered
What is a hotel pet program?
A brand level standard for how every hotel in a group welcomes guests travelling with pets, usually dogs: the policy, the fee, the amenities, the spaces, the services and the training, applied and measured across the portfolio.
Why do hotels in the same brand treat dogs so differently?
Because most brands have no standard for the guest with a dog. Each general manager sets the fee, the weight limit and the access rules, so the welcome varies more inside a brand than between brands.
Which hotel brands have the best pet programs?
Kimpton runs a single brand level policy with no fee, no weight limit and a bed and bowls in every room, and Hilton has made a bed and bowls standard across more than 4,600 hotels. Individual hotels in many brands are excellent, but few brands are consistent; our portfolio paper sets out the variance.
How long does a group pet programme take?
Group programmes typically run 6 to 18 months, starting with a pilot of a few properties chosen by the brand.
Do you work with management companies and owners?
Yes. We work with brands, management companies and ownership groups, at whichever level the decision is taken.
Begin
Make The Brand Mean The Same Thing Everywhere
Tell us how many hotels, under which brands, and where you already suspect the promise breaks. We will tell you how a programme would run.
Talk To Us About Your Portfolio